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CBS Secures Deal to Tell Smart Story

The family of Elizabeth Smart have agreed to deals for both a TV movie and a book about the Utah teen’s June 5, 2002 kidnapping and her miraculous return nine months later, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

CBS beat the competition (which was reportedly fierce) to secure the Smart family’s approval for the TV movie about Elizabeth’s ordeal.

According to the trade paper, Dylan Baker and Lindsay Frost will play Elizabeth’s parents, Ed and Lois Smart, and Canadian actress Amber Marshall will play the abducted victim in what is now tentatively called “The Elizabeth Smart Story.”

Shooting is due to begin in Canada in two weeks, with a November airdate expected. The film’s action is due to shift from the Smart household to Elizabeth’s experiences on the road with her abductors.

Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Eileen Barzee have been charged with Elizabeth’s kidnapping and are awaiting trial in Utah.

The Reporter also says that Doubleday Books has signed a deal with the Smarts to tell their story in “Bringing Elizabeth Home: A Journey of Faith and Hope.” The book is to be a collaboration between the Smarts and author Laura Morton (who co-wrote Melissa Etheridge’s memoir) and is due on store shelves Oct. 28.

In other TV movie news, USA Today reports that Robert Blake’s murdered wife, Bonny Lee Bakley, will be the subject of producer Larry Thompson’s “Dying for Stardom,” after he acquired story rights from Bakley’s sister, Margerry. No network or airdate is in place.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, Blake, 69, who is charged with murdering Bakley, was in court, where the judge approved a motion to postpone a hearing scheduled for this Friday until Oct. 31.

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